Power trip

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Let's see, where were we before Theme Day and holy days?
Oh right, we were touring the kishkes, the innards, of Shaare Zedek Medical Center  as part of  Jerusalem Houses from Within weekend.

Our guide, the director of engineering and logistics, led us down to the big hospital's electrical plant.

There was a whole row of these powerful-looking ... uh ... machines. (?)
UPDATE:  VP says they are generators.     Thanks, VP!

Everywhere is written DANGER.

Always ready for any emergency, the hospital makes a practice run once a week by switching over to generators for a short time.
The generators run on diesel fuel, not electricity.

Israel Electric Corporation made a line solely for Shaare Zedek.
The hospital plant's electricity comes in at a much higher voltage than regular customers receive.

In these "cages" are the transformers that convert the electricity to normal 220 volts.
Our guide warned us not to touch anything!
This plus the chart on the door showing how to resuscitate a person (presumably after   electrocution)  must have made my camera hands a bit shaky.
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UPDATE: On their Facebook page, Shaare Zedek Medical Center Jerusalem just posted a sweet baby picture and said "Mazel tov to the families of the over 80 babies born at Shaare Zedek Medical Center during Yom Kippur."
Wow!
Indeed, with 21,000 births per year Shaare Zedek's maternity facility is the most active in the Western world!
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The heat-cold center

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Our next station in our Jerusalem Houses From Within  guided tour of Shaare Zedek Medical Center was the heating/cooling  center which controls the air conditioning and heating and water systems of the big hospital.

The people who keep everything working well are so proud, they hang hospital flags among the boilers and pipes.
The little signs says that ear protection is a must.
Indeed,  the machines were very noisy down there.

The grey giant is a steam boiler.
These days, it is heated by electricity.

Should the hospital be cut off from its water supply by war or natural disaster, there are big reserve pools that hold enough water for 72 hours.
They are cleaned once a year. 

The all-important Control Room.
There is a back-up for every emergency break-down that might happen.
If something goes wrong with a machine or a computer, e-mails and SMSs go out immediately to call in the appropriate technician and man in charge, night or day, Shabbat or weekday.
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(Linking to OurWorld Tuesday.)
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Autoclaves and dedicated personnel + bonus rap video

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As explained in the previous post, Shaare Zedek medical center offered two well-guided tours of their engineering and logistics facilities last week.
Today I'll show you their sterilization unit.

The hospital recently spent 20 million shekels (almost five and a half million dollars) to upgrade to this Swedish  Getinge Automation System.
Here some 50 of us curious Israelis were standing in the "dirty room" to which the used medical instruments are brought.

 
Wash-carts are put into these sophisticated "dish-washers."

Even a whole trolley can go through for disinfection.

The wash cycle in action.

The in-charge staff responsible for keeping everything sterile.
They did, however, allow us tourists to cross over into the "clean room" without suiting up in gowns, hats, and booties.

Every scissors and surgical instrument must be arranged in order, counted, and accounted for.
You know the old "joke" about surgeons forgetting something inside the patient . . . 

 Another machine.
With so many people clustered around our guide in such small quarters, it was hard for me to see and hear everything, to take notes and to photograph at the same time.
Why do the tallest and widest men always rush to the front and stay there, instead of giving the others a chance to see better? -- I really should work on improving my elbowing skills. 

It was Friday noon and all the non-essential staff were already on their way home to prepare for the Sabbath.
Shaare Zedek is a religious hospital.

The end product is carefully wrapped, labeled, and coded packages of germ-free instruments ready to be sent to the proper wards.
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DON'T MISS this funny rap video about the importance of hand-washing starring Shaare Zedek hospital doctors and nurses!!! 
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Shaare Zedek's smokeless smokestack

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The smokestack of Shaare Zedek hospital is cold and clean and useless.
It once carried particles and smoke high up (and hopefully away)  into Jerusalem's sky.
But nowadays, in our era of increasing greenness, the huge medical center uses a closed circuit system of pipes instead.

It would cost millions to take the chimney down, so up it stays.
Which is a shame because it can be seen for miles and miles around.
An eyesore, in my opinion. 
Not to mention that for many Jews any tall and stark chimney is a grim reminder of the Shoah (see my post "O the Chimneys").

Last week Jerusalem had her annual Houses From Within weekend.
One of the guided tours I took into normally inaccessible places was a walk down to and through the kishkes (the innards) of Shaare Zedek.
It was led by Gadi,  Director of Logistics and Engineering.
The tour was offered twice last Friday and about 100 curious Israelis learned a lot that day. 

I will show you more in the coming days. 

(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)
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Houses from Within, Jerusalem, list now online!

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The visitors standing in the narrow Ein Kerem lane were waiting for their chance to wind their way up through the fascinating old house and eventually emerge on the roof.
This was part of last year's annual  Jerusalem Houses from Within.

Above the front door was the event's poster.
That 2012 logo showed a bouquet of buildings.

The list of THIS year's Houses from Within guided tours just now went online--120 locations and the list is still growing!
If you are anywhere near Israel, mark your calendar for November 7-8-9.

A few venues require registration, which begins bright and early online on November 1.

Maybe your own city has a similar Open House event?
Check the date at http://www.openhouseworldwide.org/
In 2014  Athens,  Gdansk, San Diego, and Vienna will be joining this wonderful cultural tradition. 
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(Linking to Lesley's meme, Signs, signs.)

Cutting edge technology, under construction

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No, it's not an eggshell on my head. (Remember the Calimero cartoons?)
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All the visitors to tour No. 60 of this weekend's annual Jerusalem Houses from Within had to wear a hardhat because we were in a construction zone.

We got to see the new luxurious bathrooms for future patients in the new Hadassah hospital tower (that I showed you here).
And lots more, including green technology! You will be seeing more in the coming posts.

You too would want to wear a hardhat going up in this external elevator cage!
It was exciting.

Can you see how two walls of the building come together in a wedge?
That's Hadassah--always on the cutting edge!
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For Weekend Reflections.
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Feeling welcome at St. Stephen's Monastery

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Many cities in the world have an Open House weekend once a year.

Jerusalem had her Houses From Within weekend last month with over a hundred significant sites open to the public free of charge, some with guided tours.
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But no one anticipated the huge turnout at St. Etienne/St. Stephen's Monastery, home to the prestigious École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem!

Curious Israelis crowded into the basilica, filling every pew and even the monks' choir stalls.

Many had to stand. Or we sat on the floor.

Who ever heard of such a thing?!

In one Shabbat afternoon alone, about a thousand Jews came to see and hear (and that's not counting the morning tours and open house)!
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One lone man stood in front of the throng and without a microphone explained this place, his home. He somehow made himself heard, and he also make himself understood and appreciated.

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Thank you for your gracious guidance, Fr. Jean-Michel de Tarragon, O.P. [Order of Preachers, i.e. Dominicans], priest, friar, scholar, teacher, photographer, and the in-charge of a huge old photo archive from glass plates.
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I see on the Internet that yesterday the Catholic Church had a day to honor men and women religious, those called to the vowed life, the monks and nuns of the cloistered and contemplative vocation. Pro Orantibus Day (For Those Who Pray).

God bless all the monastics, of whatever kind, in every country.

This post is for "That's My World," and I must say, without these Brothers and Sisters our world would be a poorer place.

In case you missed Frere Jean-Michel's guided tour, you can enjoy a 12-minute video walk through St. Stephen's and the Ecole here.

Great photos and info in French here.

And other posts and links are under my label "Ecole Biblique."

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